Wynter Brown loves coffee. She drinks it every morning. And she’s not afraid to let people know about it.

So unafraid, in fact, that her entry in the Exhibit of Excellence at the Suffolk Art Gallery depicted coffee spilling out of her eyes onto coffee mugs. Titled “Coffer,” it earned her the Best in Show award at the exhibit of art from Suffolk high-school students.

“I was very surprised,” she said at Tuesday’s exhibit opening, which the participating students attended. “I was freaking out because I was the last one called.”

Brown, who attends Lakeland High School, said the work was done in response to an assignment that asked the students to use their eyes to express something. She is thinking about a career in art, but not in two-dimensional form — she wants to do costume design for stage performances.

“She is an awesome student, not only artistically, but she is very intelligent,” said her art teacher, Annette Lowe. “She’s self-inspired.”

Lowe said she could not wait to contact student teacher Whitney Valdivieso, a Longwood University student, to tell her about Brown’s win. Valdivieso is the one who gave the students the assignment involving eyes, Lowe said.

About 146 students submitted work for the Suffolk Art League exhibit, which was judged by Heather Bryant, an art professor at Old Dominion University. It will be on display at the museum, 118 Bosley Ave., through Feb. 28.

The first-place winner was Nansemond River High School’s Natalie White, who captured a variety of colors in her self-portrait that featured her wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt and holding a lava lamp.

“I wanted a lot of color in it,” she said. “I kind of wanted to go for a hippie theme, too.”

Second place also went to a Nansemond River High School student, Jenise Stovall, for her work titled “Urban Fashion,” which was created with paper, fabric and marker.

“I like fashion, so I thought, ‘Why not do a piece about urban fashion?’” she said. She layered the paper and fabric onto the marker drawing to create clothing on the figures.

“It’s a lot of layers,” she said.

D’Antae Barrett of King’s Fork High School took third place with his clay sculpture, “True Self.”

“I was thinking there’s a lot of people out there who put on a hard exterior,” he said. He fashioned the head and shoulders of a person and painted it gray to appear like concrete, but the viewer can see through holes to different colored pieces that represent emotions.

The Sharon Picot Memorial Award went to Victoria Peterson of Nansemond River High School for her mixed-media work, “We Can Dream.”

Honorable mentions went to:

• Natassia Dear, Lakeland High School
• Daniel Hotte, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy
• Karin Kleps, Nansemond River High School
• Giovanni McGlone, Lakeland High School
• Maia Micou, Nansemond River High School

Other students exhibiting work in the show are as follows:

King’s Fork High School

• Erin Banks
• Emily Campanella
• Elizabeth Cherry
• Nicole Gordon
• Andrew Gould
• Emma Marston
• Paige Moore
• Katrina Porter
• Nicolas Randolph
• Christine Roehling
• Drew Shaffer
• Sarah Totty

Lakeland High School

• Angela Donnelly
• Shannon Drewry
• Brittany Meisel
• Jamie Panzera
• Summer Parker
• Cheyenne Salmon

Nansemond River High School

• Darlissa Brown
• Darian Dean
• Elizabeth Gover
• Brittany Hines
• Imani Lee Junious
• Maia Micou
• Vicky Peterson
• Courtney Proctor
• Mackenzie Van Dyke

Nansemond-Suffolk Academy

• Lauren Batton
• Taylor Berard
• Harper Birdsong
• Carroll Breslauer
• Taylor Bridgeman
• Victoria Bridgeman
• Keith Cooper
• Drew Corrigan
• Riley Rose Cyr
• Morgan Davis
• Cole Dignard
• Lizzy Fowler
• Madi Glynn
• Kaitlin Hoagland
• Daniel Hobson
• Mallory Hobson
• Allison Johnson
• Jordon Jones
• Louis Jones
• Emily Mason
• John Mobley
• Maggie More
• Bridget Murphy
• Emily Neuburg
• Brianna Rowe
• Savannah Simms
• Jessica Somerville
• Meredith Stielow
• Kaitlin Werner